Radiation Mutations

Not to be confused with standard mutations, radiation mutations (or "radmuts") are entirely different from typical perks. They apply buffs and debuffs like regular mutations, but have several key differences. Getting a good set of radmuts is time-consuming, expensive, and very boring; most players do not bother with them.

Regular Mutations vs Radmuts

Below is an outline of the differences between regular mutations and special radiation mutations.

• Regular mutations take up mutation slots; radmuts don't take up slots.
• Regular mutations can be chosen; radmuts are typically acquired randomly, though can be influenced by several mechanics and items.
• Regular mutations are permanent unless manually removed; radmuts are always lost on death.
• Regular mutations are acquired by mutating on a specific tile; radmuts are typically gained through radiation.
• Most regular mutations have some benefit; the majority of radmuts have downsides, and some are purely negative.
• Regular mutations can be taken by anyone (excluding incompatibilities); Abominations can never acquire radmuts.

Radiation Mutations Listing

Below is a table of all radiation mutations available in the game, as well as notes on their utility.

Mutation	Effects	Message when Acquired	Visible Effects
chameleon	+3 sneak, -1 reflexes. Sneak is an almost completely useless skill, while reflexes is an important stat; this is a bad radmut.	Your skin feels briefly like it's on fire, and large black patches appear all over it. You look at your hand, and realize you can see the floor reflected on it.	ReadTheFineWiki is hard to get a fix on. He shifts in and out of sight, seemingly at random.
downs syndrome	+1 brawn, -3 brains. Brawn is important, but -3 Brains is a huge problem for almost any build; this is a bad radmut.	You feel your chromosomes changing.	ReadTheFineWiki's head is a funny shape, and his eyes are a little too far apart.
elephantitis	-2 reflexes. No upsides; one of the worst radmuts.	Your body shivers with pain, and your flesh starts to swell, straining your skin. Ugh.	ReadTheFineWiki's flesh is blobby and swollen. Ick.
oozing sores	-5 cool, will constantly leak radpus and occasionally pusgrubs. Leaking causes periodic damage. Consuming pusgrubs may grant a mental. No upsides; one of the worst radmuts.	ReadTheFineWiki writhes in pain as huge, bubbling sores develop all over his body.	ReadTheFineWiki's entire body is covered in huge, open sores leaking thick pus.
psychotic trauma (red eyes)	+2 brawn, +2 reflexes, +1 senses, -4 cool. Also tints character's vision red. Cool is the least important stat, while reflexes and brawn are very valuable; the most coveted radmut of all.	Something in your brain snaps. Your vision tinges with red, and your face feels very itchy.	ReadTheFineWiki's eyes are solid red globes, glassy and milky.
second head	brains +1, cool -1. Second head will randomly insult people and be rude if someone else is on the same tile. Cool is unimportant and Brains is very high utility, making this a small bonus for most builds; a good radmut.	You feel a terrible pain in your shoulder-- feels like something is being rearranged. Then there's a lot of pressure on your skin, and with a pop, something appears.	ReadTheFineWiki has a second head on his shoulder. It is shrunken and underdeveloped, but its eyes occasionally focus on you.
slippery (strange-looking) skin	+1 reflexes, -1 endurance. This radmut is a toss-up; good for builds that need Reflexes more than Endurance, bad for the reverse, minor either way.	Your skin suddenly feels like it's giving way, melting, but not. You move your arm and realize it makes you sort of 'flow'... very strange.	ReadTheFineWiki's skin looks strange. It is slightly translucent, and appears to bead, like water, before breaking up again.
third arm	Allows triple-wielding, but prevents wearing abdomen armor. Third arm occasionally drops what it's holding. Will destroy any armor that covers the abdomen torso when initially earned. If the mutant is stressed, the third arm will occasionally punch its owner or initiate combat with someone else on the tile. Destructive, unreliable, and restricts armor; generally considered a bad radmut.	ReadTheFineWiki clutches his shoulder in agony as it twists and shudders, sprouting a bizarre protrusion that slowly forms itself into something resembling an arm.	ReadTheFineWiki has a disgusting mutated third arm growing from his shoulder.
third breast	Gives +2 to fuck and -1 to cool. Only females and neuters can get this mutation. Female characters who have engorged with Fuck Machine will always get third breast, and cannot get third testicle. Cool and fuck are both fairly unimportant; this radmut is generally neither good nor bad.	ReadTheFineWiki thrusts her chest out and squeels in pain as a third breast forces itself out of her chest between her first and second.	ReadTheFineWiki has a third breast.
third eye	+2 senses. +1 Dodge, Torture and Focus with no downside; an excellent radmut.	With a blinding flash of pain, the skin of your forehead splits, and then... you can see. Like never before.	ReadTheFineWiki has a third eye in the center of his forehead. It flicks about lazily.
third testicle	Gives +2 to fuck and -1 to cool. Only males can get this mutation. Same as third breast.	ReadTheFineWiki suddenly falls to his knees and grabs his groin, squeeling in pain. His eyes widen as his finds something extra.	ReadTheFineWiki walks with his groin thrust out slightly.
webbed hands	+4 swim -3 craft. Swim is much less important than Craft, making this a bad radmut for anyone who uses the craft skill; for everyone else, it's benign.	ReadTheFineWiki spends a few seconds looking at his hand confusedly, spreading his fingers and ogling a new flap of skin between each pair.	ReadTheFineWiki's hands look a bit strange.
enlarged lungs	+1 endurance, -1 cool. Allows you to hold your breath for longer periods of time, makes you talk in ALL CAPS, and your yells are twice as loud. Endurance is high value and cool is low value, so this is generally a good radmut. Also has top meme value for its permanent caps lock.	You seize up as a crawling, burning sensation spreads through your chest. After a moment, you gasp, taking what feels like the biggest breath ever.	This mutation does not alter a character's appearance.

Acquiring Radmuts

Radmuts can only be acquired by "rolling the dice"; every heartbeat that a character spends with more than about eight rads, they have a chance to gain one to three radmuts. These mutations can be resisted with endurance, and more rads seems to increase the odds. Acquiring the radmuts is frustratingly random; lingering with 20 rads can produce a mutation in a couple minutes, or about an hour and a half.

Most players have three categories of radmut in their mind: mutations that are dealbreakers (i.e. totally unacceptable), mutations that are neutral, and mutations that are desired. Which mutations fall into which category depend on the player's exactitude and build; any time a player mutates a "dealbreaker" mutation, they must die and reclone to try again. This can cost a great deal of time and cloning money, which is why radmuts are generally unpopular.

Once a radmut is acquired, it will only ever persist until death; as soon as the mutant dies, all of their radmuts will be lost.

Farming Methods

Some players seeking to roll for radmuts use special methods to acquire them: popular ones are listed below. Those attempting to roll for radmuts do so naked, to avoid accidentally damaging armor with a third arm. Hyperimmune mutants will always have a harder time rolling for radmuts, thanks to their innate radiation resistance. Many of these methods will involve dangerous amounts of radiation poisoning, which will cause damage; be ready to heal and control radiation damage.

• Spent fuel rods is the classic method. Idle on a tile with half a dozen spent fuel rods, scavenged from the Toxic Dump. The rods are radioactive, and will irradiate the player on their tile.
• Inserting a rod is a very painful method. Simply acquire a rod of spent fuel, plutonium, or uranium, and insert rod. Enjoy. The rod will quickly increase rad counts in the player utilizing it for as long as it stays "in position"; it will fall out in time.
• Double-dosing rad-q is just like spent fuel rods, but causes a large number of rads very quickly.
• Irradiated zones are sometimes used like the spent fuel rod method; simply idle in an irradiated area. Common tiles for this are the "Radiation Wash" and "Ground Zero" tiles in the Wasteland, and the generator tile in the Colossus Silo; all three are highly irradiated.
• Pills are another option, these pills can be consumed that give certain radmuts (I.E Redeye Pills).